PWA Surf World Cup Podersdorf - Wind fails to materialize on day 4

The fourth day of the PWA Surf World Cup Podersdorf saw marginal conditions tantalize the sailors for the majority of the day. Unfortunately, the wind never quite materialized, meaning that no heats were completed despite heat one being started. After a frustrating day on hold, the sailors were released at 5pm, before the start of the final qualifying round of the European tow-in at 8pm.

Last year’s champion Steven Van Broeckhoven (JP / NeilPryde / Different) stole the show again as he landed an incredible air funnel into air burner 540, which earns him the highest score of the qualifying rounds. Also qualifying for tomorrow night’s final are the local hero Max Matissek (Fanatic) and France’s Adrien Bosson (Fanatic / North / Maui Ultra Fins). The lucky loser to also qualify for the final is Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra).

With sailors on hold for most of the day we caught up with the man who stormed his way back through the double elimination to eventually claim fifth place - thus far - Davy Scheffers (Tabou / Gaastra):

PWA: You fought back to fifth place in the double elimination, are you happy with this result?DS: 'Yeah, I’m really happy I came back, but I wanted to do better, I want to start making the podium positions.'

PWA: What are you aims for the rest of the season?DS: 'Winning, I really want to start winning - but reaching the podium as a minimum.'

PWA: What do you think the most important moves to do well in freestyle are at the moment? Do you have any new moves?DS: 'For me I think I have to do something different - a lot of people are doing the same moves at the moment - so I have some new moves, but I’m not going to reveal anything about them. I also have a lot of new ideas, which I’ve been thinking about over the winter when I was injured for two months. I injured my ankle with a shaka after two weeks in Brazil.'

PWA: For people looking to start freestyle, what are the first moves they should be trying to do?DS: 'For me I truly believe that it’s really important to make sure you that you can do all of the basics really well, before getting into freestyle. Nowadays I think people can do a lot of stuff but they don’t execute the move perfectly or consistently. When you are good at the basics you can start to learn vulcans and loops and then progress more quickly.

PWA: How about equipment setup? Footstraps? Boom height? Fin?DS: 'It’s important to make your footstraps big - so that you don’t injure yourself as it allows your knees and ankles to twist in the straps and come out of them easily. It’s important to make sure the straps grip the sides of your feet to feel secured to the board. I personally recommend a high boom because for me the moves look more stylish. For the fin I think anything around 17/18cm is fine, you don’t need to go smaller. If you are really young then a really small fin works great because you don’t need so much power in your legs to start spinning. If you are struggling to stay upwind then use a slightly bigger fin as you will get more lift.'

The forecast for tomorrow is predicting some wind in the afternoon, so we may have the possibility to complete another single elimination on the final day of the competition. Tomorrow evening will also see the spectacular conclusion of the European tow-in event at 8pm.